Eating Mindfully - Short Grain or Jasmine Brown Rice?

Wow I had the best question from HopeAlso from Hippie Dippie Bebe! In regard to my using Jasmine brown rice in one of my favorite recipes, Thai Spicy Eggplant and Veggies.



Unfortunately, I hadn't considered the nutritional difference between brown short grain rice and brown jasmine rice before but since I am working on the 100 Day Reality Challenge and eating more mindfully is one of my goals, this question comes at just the right time!

I always use brown rice now and was happy to see the Organic Brown Jasmine rice from Lundberg at our store. I also use the Organic Brown Short Grain from Lundberg too! Often I mix them as I like the stickiness of the short grain and the texture of the longer/medium grain.

It seems it is a toss up as to which is better nutrition wise. The short grain has 3 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein compared to Jasmine’s 2 grams of fiber, and 4 grams of protein. Jasmine has less carbs and a smidgen more iron. It may vary with different brands.

I love your articles Hope! It is just amazing to me how often we are pondering the same things at the same time. Thanks for the question!

Things that make the mommy laugh!

5. Come on it's funny - first patty pan squash.

4. Blues rendition of three little pigs...

Madhava's kindergarden graduation was so cute! I can't believe kindergarden is over and that he is 6.5 yrs old. He is reading so well! I was holding back the tears ... being so happy for him and proud of him and just smiling at the same time because his performance was so fun!

3. Sweat pea scented diapers... Roger was wondering why I am hanging the diapers out on the gate when he made a perfectly good laundry line for me. Well, because I love the smell of the sweet peas that only live by the gate.

2. Do I have to eat ALL the cake on my plate? Madhava and Danielle at Shraddha's birthday party. Thank you Beckie for all the awesome ideas and making the party run so smoothly... you are THE Party Mama! Thanks Mom for financing the castle. And thanks to everyone for making Shraddha feel like the Birthday Princess!....

1. My daughter's favorite white hen, Shirley...crowing just like a rooster.

Thai spicy eggplant and veggies - from garden to table

This is one of my favorite meals, inspired by Veggie Meals: Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals It's quick, it's almost a one pot meal, its healthy AND yummy! I love the sweet and the spicy especially with the basil!

Gather all the ingredients.

Its still early for my Japanese eggplants, I only had one, but quickly substituted broccoli, yellow and green zucchini. I even tossed in some tofu just because it was in the fridge.

1 cup of brown jasmine rice cooked as directed.

2 tsp of vegetable oil

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes - its hot!

1 Japanese eggplant, 2 medium yellow zucchini and 1 medium green zucchini, 1 small crown of broccoli - or any other veggie combo that sound good like mushroom, napa cabbage, bell pepper, onion, carrot....

1/2 package of firm tofu (optional)

4 cloves of garlic

2 tbs of rice wine vinegar (or white vinegar)

3 tbs of soy sauce

2 tbs of brown sugar or honey

20 leaves of basil

Prepare Rice and start to chop and cook.

Chop all veggies and tofu into bite size pieces.

Heat 1 tsp of oil in a deep skillet or stir fry pan over high heat. Add pepper flakes, cook for 10 sec. Add eggplant and tofu and 2 minced/crushed cloves of garlic and cook 3 minutes. Place in a dish while you stir fry the broccoli, and zucchini the same way for another 3 minutes. Combine all the veggies in the pan together. Pour vinegar and soy sauce and sprinkle with sugar or honey and toss. After 1 or 2 minutes, remove from heat, add basil and serve over hot rice. Serves 2-3.

A glance at the vegetarian life: a guide for first timers

A friend of mine was thinking about taking the PETA 30 challenge and going veggie for 30 days. It can seem a bit time consuming when first thinking about meal planning with the goal of staying veggie (it did for me at first too), especially when you have a picky eater and kids. And it may take a little bit of time only because your mind is used to things being a certain way and you are accustomed and used to having the same meals your mom made for you. I happen to feel it is much easier to not have to worry about thawing out meat just the right way, cleaning up the juice and stuff to keep from getting sick, and making sure that it is cooked just right but not too overcooked. Once you have a few veggie ideas to work with, it really does become a no-brainer. To help get you started I made a menu of the foods that we eat.
I also try to include fresh whole grains, flax, and amaranth as well as a mixed green or spinach salad with lunch and/or dinner. I try to just avoid the meat substitutes for personal reasons as well as the fact that they just taste funny when you are used to the real thing.

	Breakfast	Snack	Lunch	Snack	Dinner
Monday	Oatmeal with sliced almonds, raisins honey and soy milk	banana	Burrito with beans, rice and cheese and all the veggies	Salsa and baked tortilla chips	Pesto Pasta with veggies, zuc, mushroom, broccoli
Tuesday	French toast Fruit and OJ	Apple and peanut butter	Balsamic Tomato, basil, fresh mozzarella cheese sandwich	popcorn	Baked potato with broccoli and cheddar cheese
Wednesday	Cold cereal Banana	Cottage cheese and fruit	Hummus & tomato wrap with celery and carrots	Cheese and crackers	Stir fry or steamed veggies, tofu and brown rice
Thursday	Scrambled eggs and toast	Fruit popsicle	Egg salad sandwich with carrots, fruit	Pretzels and raisins	Pasta with veggie marinara
Friday	Plain yogurt with jam or honey and toast	Carrot & flax muffin	Lentil soup or Sambar	Grilled tomato with cheese	Garden burger sandwich with grilled veggies and fries
Saturday	Bagels and cream cheese fruit	Cereal fruit bar	Mac and cheese with carrots and peas		Veggie Omlette Spinach tomato and mushroom
Sunday	Pancakes and eggs	Fruit smoothy	Veggie lasagna	Cucumber, tomato, sprouts and cream cheese pitas	Homemade pizza with fresh tomatos and pineapples

What to eat when you are out?
Fast food: Wendy’s has a baked potato, BK has veggie patty, Taco bell burritos (the 7layer is yummy). Most fast food places will make the item you like without meat (and charge full price of course).

Sit down meals: Pasta, Pizza, Omelets, veggie burger substitute (my fav is Red robin’s mushroom burger) or Portabella burgers. Stir fry with tofu and rice or noodles, Eggplant Parmesan, Veggie or cheese enchiladas, grilled veggie fajitas, and all kinds of Indian and Thai and Mediterranean food.

Enjoy your veggie adventure!

Favorite veggie books:

Favorite veggie site:

TryVeg.com

Praying for caffinated rain.

"God, please make mama drink coffee. I don't know how much more of this withdrawal I can take!"

-Shraddha praying for mama not to decrease caffine intake any further.

-Mama wishing it would rain caffine. Day 5 of no morning coffee just a cup of green tea. Slowly decreasing morning intake of caffine.

Found 70% pure cocoa organic dark chocolate bar. Wonder how much caffine there?

- First day of no headache in the morning YEAH!